A HUMAN rights campaigner from Edinburgh arrested after a daredevil stunt in Beijing is on his way back after being deported by Chinese authorities.
Iain Thom, 24, was arrested with fellow protesters Lucy Fairbrother from London and Americans Phill Bartell and Tyrian Mink, after climbing up a lamppost to drape "free Tibet" banners outside China's Bird's Nest Olympic Stadium.
It is understood t
he two Brits were last night on a flight to Frankfurt in Germany, but it is not known when they will return to the UK.
The Beijing Municipal Public Security Bureau said: "They disrupted public order and violated Chinese laws. Their period of stay in the country will hereby be cut short."
Mr Thom's father, who lives in Muir of Ord near Inverness, has spoken of his pride at his son's actions. Brian Thom said he had been in contact with his son via text message.
He said Iain would be "very happy" with the attention he has focussed on China's human rights record. He said: "We did get a text directly from him saying he was fine.
"I am very proud of him, he is passionate about their human rights. He has taken up the cause and wants to highlight it to the world."
The former Edinburgh University geoscience student has been an active member of Students for a Free Tibet for a number of years and in 2004 he campaigned against the Chinese army's appearance at the Edinburgh Military Tattoo, which saw several arrests.
In 2005, he was among eight student demonstrators who padlocked a large banner to the Scott Monument in protest against a possible lifting of the EU embargo on China.
Mr Thom has also been a member of the Scottish Parliament's cross-party working group on Tibet since it was set up in 2003. Group chairman, Liberal Democrat MSP for Edinburgh South, Mike Pringle, described him as "passionate about what he believes in".
Mr Pringle said: "I can't commend them enough. It was extremely brave for Iain and the others to do this.
"Everybody on the cross-party working group on Tibet will be right behind them."
Shirley-Anne Somerville, SNP MSP for Lothians, added her praise, but warned the Olympic Games could be remembered for wrong reasons if China didn't relax its stance on protesting.
Ms Somerville said: "This was a brave act by local activist Iain Thom and the other protesters to draw the attention of the world to the injustices in Tibet.
"I hope they get a little more relaxed about peaceful demonstrations such as this, if they don't want these games to be remembered for all the wrong reasons."
Sun Weide, of the Beijing Organising Committee, said: "The Olympics is a grand international sports gathering and we are resolutely against any attempt to politicise the Games."
The full article contains 472 words and appears in Edinburgh Evening News newspaper.
